The sport of golf has enjoyed a great deal of popularity over the years. Many golfers either carry the large bag of clubs and accessories which the sport requires or pull their bags of clubs on wheeled carts around the golf course. However, most golfers prefer to navigate the course in a motor driven cart. Many golf and country clubs, moreover, require the use of motor driven carts by the golfers who play these courses. The use of motorized carts is thought to decrease playing time and permit more golfers to play the course in a given time interval.
The majority of those who play golf are generally willing to accept a requirement such as the use of motorized carts if it shortens their wait to tee off, particularly on a busy weekend day. The foursome that likes to drive its way between shots and from hole to tee is perfectly happy to comply with the motorized cart requirement and play golf in this fashion. However, studies have demonstrated that the exercise value of golf is diminished significantly if the golfer rides rather than walks between shots. Consequently, those who play golf to benefit from the exercise it provides prefer not to use motor driven carts.
Because the motor driven carts used by most golf and country clubs accommodate only two people and two bags, a separate cart is needed for each two golfers. Two motor driven carts are required to transport each foursome. As a result, this limitation dramatically increases the number of motorized carts that clubs which require their use must keep available to handle peak playing hours without complaints from the golfers. The maintenance and storage demands of maintaining a large motor driven golf cart inventory, moreover, can be considerable.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a motorized golf cart adaptable both to fulfill the interests of the golf course in reducing playing time and to meet the desires of the golfers for exercise. These dual requirements could be met by providing a single motorized cart that would accommodate all of the golf bags and other equipment needed by a foursome and also allow at least two of the golfers to ride. Those golfers in the group who prefer to walk could do so without delaying play by having to carry or pull their bags, and those who prefer to ride could also do so. Any motor driven cart satisfying this objective would be required to hold four golf bags. Most currently available motorized golf carts have racks that will accommodate only two standard sized golf bags.
The prior art has proposed a holder for four golf bags which can be mounted on a motor driven golf cart. The golf bag holder described in Casady U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,746 includes a frame with a plurality of pivotally mounted spring-loaded arms which extend vertically upward from the rear deck of the cart when not attached to a golf bag. The attachment of a golf bag to one of the spring-loaded arms pulls the arm down. Brackets on each cart fender hold the bottom of a bag mounted on one of the outermost arms. Not only is the golf bag rack disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,746 complicated and cumbersome, but the pivotally mounted arms cannot be secured to the rack frame in an orientation which optimally support every type of golf bag. In addition, because the bag-holding arms are spring-loaded, the stability of the golf bag held by one of these arms depends on the weight of the bag. If several clubs are removed from the bag, the bag will not be securely supported against lateral movement. Moreover, the spring-loaded arms could be adversely affected by driving the cart over rough terrain. Finally, the vertical arrangement of the bag-holding arms may preclude the use of a canopy over the seats on some carts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,439, Jeninga discloses a cradle bracket for a golf bag that is mountable in the rear of a motor driven golf cart to hold a golf bag at an angle which permits the clubs to be removed easily. Although this bracket holds the bag securely in the cart, the security is achieved in large measure by an additional strap which, with the bracket, encircles the golf bag. Moreover, there is no suggestion that more than two golf bags could be supported by such a bracket on a motor driven golf cart.
The prior art, therefore, has failed to disclose a simple golf bag rack which can easily be mounted on the rear fenders to expand the bag carrying capacity of a motor driven golf cart from two to four bags without interfering with the conventional two bag carrying capacity of the cart, or other features of the cart.